BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – Emergency Management officials are urging everyone not to stay inside mobile homes during severe weather.
Mobile homes aren’t site-built structures, so even the weakest tornadoes can lift the home hundreds of feet in the air. EMA officials said that you’re better off taking cover in a ditch.
Jefferson County EMA’s Melissa Sizemore said tornado winds can get under the bottom of a mobile home and that’s how it gets lifted and thrown into the air. The home will also go into the air with anyone seeking shelter inside.
But, Sizemore said if you’re outside, in a ditch, covering your head and neck, it’s harder for the wind to get underneath you. She said that it gives you a better chance of staying on the ground, making it safer than a mobile home. Sizemore said you can anchor your mobile home to try and help keep it on the ground during storms, but that doesn’t always work.
You can actually see in the ground where those anchor points are, in tornados, and where the mobile home has been lofted,” Sizemore said. “Regardless of mitigation measures people have taken to their mobile homes, we still encourage people to seek shelter elsewhere. It’s actually much safer for you to get out of your mobile home and lie down in a ditch with your neck and head covered, than it is for you to stay inside your mobile home.”
Sizemore said many tornado fatalities come from people sitting out a storm while inside a mobile home. She said the best thing you can do is get to a sturdy shelter, like a gas station, a brick home, or a storm shelter.
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